Strainstall partners with Baker Hughes, a GE company, in a pioneering product development project

Strainstall has partnered with industry-leading oilfield services company, Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE), to pioneer the development of a ground-breaking wireless monitoring solution now open to almost all upstream wellsite operations, helping to improve safety, reduce costs and drive efficiencies.

BHGE originally requested Strainstall to develop a wireless line tension monitoring - Strainstall's approach was to engineer a 'plug-and-play' system that required no changes to existing sheave arrangements by integrating its highly accurate tension load cells with its hazardous area certified wireless technology, to provide both real-time and built-in data logging capabilities for line tension monitoring.

This pioneering work led to Strainstall's development of a modular, fully hazardous area certified wireless system which could integrate with any type of third party sensor for any application where operator safety is a key concern, without needing IECEx recertification.

Homero Castillo, product line manager, deployment and acquisition systems (at time of development) at BHGE said:

"We challenged Strainstall to develop a next generation wireline tension wireless monitoring system to improve safety, reduce rig up time and ultimately remove the cables required by the existing method."

Strainstall has now launched its suite of Wellsite Monitoring Solutions (WMS) that address wellsite safety and efficiency issues, initially focusing on wireline, slickline and measurement-while-drilling (MWD) activities. The wireless technology supports wellsite operations by eliminating the use of cabled sensors and removing trip hazards. Significant value is added by reduced rig up time, reduced associated cable costs, as well as reducing the risk of non-productive time (NPT).

"The challenge was to create a solution that was wireless, plug and play and offered data logging. WMS had to integrate in a mechanical sense, working with existing wireline sheaves in the field, but also in an electrical sense, feeding the data back to any system in use by the customer.

"Strainstall can now present a solution which can integrate with anything the customer has in the field, providing significant safety and operational efficiency benefits."

WMS can be easily retrofitted and is compatible with existing wellsite equipment. A modular solution, WMS consists of a transponder, logging system interface and handset, which allows it to integrate with any existing or future sensor as required without needing recertification. This enables the safe, fast and cost-efficient development of bespoke monitoring systems for other wellsite applications, so the future potential of this technology in the oil and gas industry is vast.

As well as improving site safety and driving efficiencies, Strainstall's wireless monitoring solution could provide new opportunities to measure, control and improve wellsite processes by capturing and recording data for subsequent analysis, as well as providing greater visibility of wellsite operations to operators.

Everett concludes:

"Our challenge to the industry is to now identify any further potential applications where this technology could improve safety and add value to their operations."